Clone-a-Willy Visits the Schwules Museum
Photo credit: Visit Berlin
Tucked away on a quiet street in Berlin lives the world’s first gay museum. The Schwules Museum* is a museum exhibiting LGBTQ life.
The Schwules Museum* originally opened in 1985, but the archive houses periodicals, a collection of photographs, videos, films, sound recordings, autographs, art works, and ephemera going back to 1896. The reference library contains more than 16,000 volumes covering male homosexuality, but with a major emphasis on art. Collections on female homosexuality, trans, intersex lifestyle literature is currently growing.
It seemed very fitting to explore the museum and learn more about the LGBTQ history following the German parliament’s approval of same-sex marriage. Clone-a-Willy was excited to explore what the museum had to offer.
The small maze-like configuration had us begin with photos and words from the archive. We scanned over the photos of the first Christopher Street Day, an annual celebration and demonstration around Europe for the rights of LGBTQ people, and against discrimination and exclusion.
"My wonderful West Berlin" is the second part of Jochen Hick's Berlin trilogy, which began in 2013 with "Out in East Berlin"
Photo credit: Archives of the Schwules Museum *
A room was dedicated to the “Change of Scenery 2.1, Winckelmann – The Divine Sex”, an exhibition that opened in June. Full of fascinating text and imagery, “the Divine Sex” commemorates the 300th Birthday of Johann Joachim Winckelmann and highlights cultural history in 18th century Italy, where it was looked at as a long desired destination for homosexual travelers and art collectors.
Simone de Beauvoir, 1967.
Photo credit: Government Press Office/GPO
We ended with a special exhibition with Simone de Beauvoir, only scheduled to show until the end of August this year. Texts from her book, the Second Sex, were printed and wallpapered along two walls. An informational text screamed out about the book from another wall, stating it is:
“a plea for the freedom of every individual no matter what kind of social status or gender identity.”
More information on the Schwules Museum:
